It All Began With a Rumor
by elusivemuse
Summary: It started at a new school, a rumor and a glance. When caught up between the Lyla/Riggins scandal, Gemma fights to fit in, fights for her new found friendship with Lyla and fights for her growing attachment to Tim. Tim/Oc M for swearing and mature content


**Hi there, Elusive here...Welcome to my new story. This one is a Friday Night Lights Tim Riggins/OC Gemma Nolan fanfiction. Unfortunately I don't own anything in this series, nor am I making any money from this one either...well none of my fanfictions LOL...Anyway, I really hope you all enjoy this one and I look forward to hearing what you all think on it!**

**Chapter One...  
**

Slut.

Whore.

Betrayer.

For a change, these words had nothing to do with Gemma Nolan. No, instead, they were focused on another girl, a pretty, good, girl-next-door type of girl. Instead of being stared at, labelled and marked as the New Kid in school, Gemma's arrival at Dillon High was slipped under the radar as the rumour mill flew around a single girl.

It was a fortunate time for her, a nice change from the norm, apart from the fact that her notice ability was directly accredited to the slander of another. A part of her felt nothing but shame for her relief, but for a change, she actually had a decent chance at a clean slate, a place where she had a chance to start off as herself, and not with the label she always ended up with.

School was normal, stifling crowds, slamming lockers and then there were the groups... the ultimate jocks, The Permian Panthers, the cheerleading squad, followed by the rally girls and everything else after that. This school was so much more focused on the football team. Hell, the whole town was just swept up in the frenzy. There was more of the school budget spent on the football team than any other aspect.

It was funny, in a town like this, it seemed that every single story had something to do with the high school football team. And just like every other story, this one starts off with the high school football team...more specifically, one player...Tim Riggins...

It was another day, filled with a symphony of crashing doors, high pitched giggling and school yard rough-housing. Gemma's lips quirked a little as she walked into the cafeteria, her head held high. In her hands was the standard cafeteria sludge on a bright red plastic tray littered with pen scrawls. She was ready, for the whispers, the stares, everything that came with the role of being the new kid. But there was none of that.

As she walked she got the filled tables and chairs, most blocked by school bags and unfriendly glances. But it was the girl being confronted by two guys and a semi circle of empty chairs that really caught her attention. The girl who had slept with her boyfriend's best friend. It was then she really heard the whispers, the slurs against the girl.

Clenching her jaw, Gemma walked over to the girl and placed her tray next to her, glaring at the guys harassing her. "You guys are done here, time to leave," she said fiercely, staring down at them.

One of them, the blonde one, scoffed. "Sorry sweetheart, we're not done."

She leant down and stared them in the eye, daring them to contradict her once more. "Time to go." They disappeared soon after.

"So what?" The girl asked, tears in her eyes and confrontation in her whisper soft voice. "Its your turn to talk crap about me straight to my face?"

Gemma looked at her in surprise. "Uh—no...I just thought you could use someone on your side. At my old school I went through similar, all on my own."

"Yeah, right," the girl scoffed, staring down at her plate. "Go on then, kick me while I'm still down. Its all your type seem to do."

"You know what," Gemma said, frowning, "I don't mind defending you, but when you treat someone who tries to help you, like shit, you're well on your way on losing what friends you have. Now I've been in your shoes, I've had the whispers, I had the hate web pages, so don't treat me like crap. You're not the only one in the world who gets bullied." Shaking her head, she stood up, red plastic tray in hand. "If you want to go around, with your woe-be-me attitude, that's no skin off my nose."

She walked away. The rumour mill wouldn't take long to create a story about her involvement. But she supposed it was a given, the new girl, trying to help out the whore of the school then getting kicked in the teeth over the whole thing. Then there was the feeling of being watched. Glancing over to the side of the room, she found her gaze caught with a guy.

His expression was unreadable, and his eyes were hidden by the shadow of his hair. He seemed big, and with the letter jacket he wore, she surmised him being on the football team. Was this the guy who the girl, Lyla, slept with...or was this the boyfriend she had cheated on? He didn't seem crippled, so he could have been the ex-best friend.

Lowering her eyes, she threw out her lunch and walked out of there. The whole thing was over the top and it was stupid of her to have gotten even a little involved. Sighing, Gemma adjusted the strap of her messenger bag and headed off to her next class. Perhaps, if she hadn't screwed up her chances with the entire school body, she might find someone who wouldn't mind letting her sit next to them.

The next day was pretty much the same; get up, get ready for school, go to school. Her choice of outfit was almost the same as everyone else's, but different enough that when looked at, she seemed a little off kilter to whatever group she was near. Instead of tight capris, she wore denim wide leg ones, instead of a pastel tank, she wore a bright red one. It was the same with the jacket; unlike a majority of the school, she didn't have a letter jacket, no, Gemma wore a waist length, dark green blazer.

Her white canvas shoes were scuffed and slightly stained, no longer a bright white but a dulled off-grey. They didn't make a lot of noise in the hallways, especially with how early she had arrived at school. The distant sounds of practice echoed from outside, the thump of the bass of the dance club vibrated through the halls, it was almost surprising to see how busy it was so early in the day.

It was a nice change though, the students at Dillon high were more concerned with their education, their extracurricular activities than any student in the cities. It was as though a girl's social life was made and ruined during school hours and what one participated in at school.

Lifting her heavy, long brown hair from her neck, Gemma sighed at the heat and pushed up the sleeves of her jacket. Her brown leather book bag banged as it hit the lockers while she fiddled with the combination of her own locker. Another day that looked glum with the possibility of barely a 'hello' from anyone in the school. Perhaps it would have been better if she had caused more of a stir when she arrived. Maybe then she would have had someone to greet and hang out with during the long hours of the day. One thing was for sure, she'd actually have a chance to focus on her grades for a change, instead of being pulled into whatever scandal was going on at the time.

"Gemma Nolan, right?" a soft voice asked from behind her. Turning, she took in the girl from the cafeteria, noting her awkward shifting and apologetic brown eyes.

"Did you want to confront me again, over something I was supposedly doing?" Gemma asked, her tone jaded with slight cynicism.

"Um, no...I...just wanted to apologise and say that you were right," red tinged the cheeks of the pretty girl. "It wasn't fair of me to judge you like that, especially when I was sick and tired of people judging me without asking for the facts."

Gemma nodded in acknowledgement. "I can accept that."

"Thank you," she said with a smile, "I'm Lyla Garrity."

"Gemma Nolan."

"Hi, Gemma...um...do you, maybe, want to sit together in class? I don't know about you, but I really could use some company right now."


End file.
